WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th March, 2022) Grocery stores in Canada have been removing Russian products from the store shelves following the launch of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine and subsequent Western sanctions, The Globe and Mail reports.
The Canadian newspaper said on Sunday citing a spokesperson for Empire Company Ltd., Jacquelin Weatherbee, that grocery chains such as Sobeys, Safeway and FreshCo, started pulling Russian products from the shelves at the beginning of March.
Earlier this month, Metro Inc. also stopped selling products made in Russia, pulling roughly a dozen products from the shelves, The Globe and Mail said, citing spokesperson Marie-Claude Bacon. Loblaw Companies Ltd. spokesperson Catherine Thomas told the newspaper that Russian products "generally are off shelf now."
There are reportedly only a few Russian products sold in Canada, including sunflower seeds, Kvass malt beer, and chocolate-covered marshmallows, and their disappearance from Canadian grocery stores will not have much impact on the Russian economy.
The West scaled up its anti-Russia sanctions after Moscow launched a special military operation in Ukraine in the early hours of February 24. The move came after the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics (DPR and LPR) appealed for help in defending themselves against the Kiev forces. Russia said that the aim of its special operation is to demilitarize and "denazify" Ukraine and that only military infrastructure is being targeted - the civilian population is not in danger. Moscow has repeatedly stressed that it has no plans to occupy Ukraine.
